Air
by sissannis
Summary: Drugs, guns, love. He felt the air weighed him down. [ONE-SHOT]


_**For greater experience, please listen to Juno and Hanna - Air. I promise**._

 **ー**

 **19:03**

He was waiting outside the building, standing straight, wearing black leather jacket and their compulsory black leather gloves. _"It comes with our job, son,"_ one of the senior once told him. He wasn't sure at first what it meant. But after four years doing what they do, he understood.

Traces were not to be left.

The door of the building swung open and the young woman with a pink backpack that he has been waiting for, came out carrying folders ー too many for her two small hands ー with inaudible curses along her way.

"For greater grade my arse. How much greater can I score!"

He snickered but quickly covered it with an exaggerated fake cough as she glared at him.

"I'm sure you've done excellently, Miss Granger," he said as he opened the car door for her.

She gingerly lowered herself so not to drop the folders. He took them off her and she smiled at him gratefully, squeezing his arm firmly once he put all her folders safely beside her.

"Thank you, Regulus. I don't know what would I do without you."

He could feel his blood rapidly pooled on his cheeks and bowed his head to hide them behind the curtain of his long black hair. He muttered, "No big deal," under his breath as he closed the door and took his place in the driver seat.

"Which building today, Miss Granger?" He asked over the roaring engine.

She hummed a song that Regulus never heard before. He didn't hear much songs ever since he started this job. He peeked on her through the rearview mirror and saw how petite Hermione Granger was. Smart, witty, beautiful. Just brilliant.

"Should I cut my hair, Regulus?" She asked while losing herself in the quiet dark world outside of the window, instead of answering his quire.

"Your hair, Miss Granger?"

She met his eyes in the mirror and twirled a lock of her curls around her bony fingers. _When was the last time she ate?_

"Tom said it's annoying."

He strengthened his hold on the steering. "When was the last time you ate, Miss Granger?"

"I… Tom said I need to finish the first batch by today. I have it with me," she rummaged through her bag, "I'm supposed to pass it to Professor Snape once I've submitted my assignments." She put a small paper bag on her lap. "Can you please drop me to Professor Dumbledore's office first?"

Regulus clenched his jaw, stopping himself from the anger that was bubbling inside him at the sight of the paper bag. He knew what was inside. And it wasn't something for her to do. It wasn't her job. It was his job.

"Of course, Miss Granger," he said behind his gritted teeth.

"Can you put down the window, please? I want to feel the wind."

Regulus obliged and once her window lowered, he revelled in her childlike laughter.

She met his eyes again and gave him the brilliant smile of hers that he'd learnt to love after almost two years serving her. Her booming laugh reverberated in the placid night. Vibrated along the breeze. As though she wasn't losing weight. As though she wasn't on drug. As though she wasn't Tom's.

He felt the air weighed him down.

 **ー**

 **20:45**

He heard a gunshot from the second floor. Regulus ran as fast as he could at the same time pushing down the worst-case scenario out of his head.

 _Please, God. Not her. Anyone but her. Please please please please please please please please please please please please please please please pleaseー_

The door was lock and he tried kicking but he was too panicked to find the strength. He took out his own gun and shot the door lock. The broken door now swayed and he heard the eerie creaking sound once the buzzing left his ears. He pushed it wide with his gun still pointing forward and he saw her there. Laid. Stilled.

Dead.

He caught a movement behind the working table. He kicked the table in rage and found Snape with a gun in his hand.

"Regー"

He pulled the trigger without any hesitation. He didn't flinch as his blood splurted on him, he didn't bother to wipe it off as it streamed down his lips. All he saw was a man who deserved to die.

He shot him again. And again. And again. Until there was nothing left to distinguish his facial features.

 _Traces were not to be left._

He put the gun back in and carried his heavy shaking legs towards the other body.

He froze as he looked down at her. Her eyes were still open, unseeing, yet somehow, he could still feel the warmth they radiated.

 _"I don't know what would I do without you."_

He fell on his knees. His hands faltered on both side, trembling. He didn't know what to do. He wasn't sure. She was vibrant. Exceptional. Alive. Slowly, he lifted his hand and ran it through her tangled brown curls.

 _"Should I cut my hair, Regulus?"_

He stopped thinking and pulled her small body into his embrace. She was cold. He would do anything to give her his warmth.

 _"Thank you, Regulus."_

He wished he could say more. He wished he could tell her: no.

 _No_. Thank _you_.

For being the light in the darkness of this job he had chose, for the laughter that echoed in his ears every time he pulled the window down, for smiling beautifully at him every time she caught him staring.

He felt the air weighed him down.

 **ー**

 **22:16**

He checked the number on his phone once again before he stepped into the abandoned warehouse.

"Regulus," a blonde guy called him.

"Lucius," he nodded curtly, "Didn't see you for a long time."

"Shipment to Albania took longer than I had planned. The women though," he whistled, "They made it bearable."

"Good for you. Is Tom here?"

"Yeah. In the office," he jutted his chin in the direction of Tom's office.

He could hear his heartbeat clearly. His breathing was short and in each step he took, he remembered her childlike laughter.

He took off his leather gloves.

"Yes, Regulus?" Tom didn't even raise his head when he asked.

Regulus clenched his fists. "Miss Granger ー"

Tom cut him off with his laughter. "You still call her Miss Granger?"

"ー Miss Granger," he continued, "is dead. Shot by Snape."

Tom quietened down and finally raised his head.

"Why the fuck did you ask her to do it? Why the fuck did you let her get addicted to that?" He advanced toward his table and pointed his gun right in between his brows. "Why. The fuck. Did you ruin her?"

Tom got up to pour himself a glass of whiskey and offered Regulus a glass. He sat and leaned back in his chair leisurely. As though a bullet to his brain couldn't kill him. And Regulus started to believe it wouldn't, seeing how he still could smirk arrogantly. He loathed the man.

"Hermione. Beautiful, young Hermione." Tom tilted back his head and closed his eyes. His smirk still plastered on his relaxed face. "She is so… Passionate. Isn't she? I'm sorry. I mean, _wasn't_ she?"

Regulus bare hand squeezed the gun tighter.

"Bright, incredibly smart, but," he brought the Whiskey to his lips and grimaced, "I could never stand the hair. It was ー"

The sound of his gunshot wasn't loud enough for him. It was muffled by the sound of shattering Whiskey glass. He wanted it to be louder so he could hear it even in his death. He wanted him to know it was his gun that shot him even in his death.

He took out his phone and before he had the chance to check it, he heard Lucius' scream, and in that moment, he wasn't feeling. He didn't feel anything. He fell flat on his face. He could feel his life leaving him as he wheezed air out of his punctured lung.

He willed himself to lift his phone and smiled when he heard his brother's voice on the other side. " _Stay with me Reggie! Fuck, Prongs! Got him yet?! Got it?! Okay! Reggie, listen! Hey, we got you! I'm coming to you. Stay with me Reggie or fuck me I'llー_ "

For the first time that night, the air didn't weigh him down.

 _"Thank you, Regulus."_

ー

 _ **This is the result of @cece2046 saying: "Bright side is I never have to worry about him. He's evil. He can take anything. He's not gonna die."**_

 _ **And for @midnightweeds for always giving me her full support and love! Plus, this is her kind of thing.**_


End file.
